Chapter 3
I thought that after the police came, I would have a peaceful time.
Unexpectedly, it was only a matter of time before the owners' group bombarded with messages while I was trying to calm the two children to sleep.
The couple directly posted the medical records in the group.
They also posted the video of me holding a kitchen knife and the police coming to negotiate in the owners' group.
[To all the people in the help group, I can honestly say that I have never done anything wrong in my life, but I have encountered such bad neighbors]
[My wife has always been in poor health, and we don't have enough money to sell the house and buy another one]
[The children of this family run, jump, and scream upstairs every day. My wife hasn't had a good night's sleep for three days]
As soon as a few words came out, many homeowners immediately expressed their anger, saying that people like me were simply lowering the property prices in the community.
Many people even came forward to expose our house number and wanted to kick me and my two children out of the community.
The couple just answered the roll call, pretending to leave me some privacy. However, privately, they quietly changed their remarks to building-unit-door number.
I couldn't stand it anymore and retorted.
[You should have some reason when you say that my child makes noise. I have shown you that we have thick carpets at home, but you just don't believe it]
Unexpectedly, instead of supporting me, this statement became an outlet for the people in the homeowners' group. Everyone has already prejudged me as a bad person.
They simply didn't believe a single word I said.
[Oh, the person involved can't remain calm]
[How about taking a video to show how thick the carpet is?]
[If they didn't make any noise, why would they come to you?]
[Agree, at least the couple's cases have been posted, she just made up the carpet out of thin air, lmao]
[Please stop talking, what if the child grows up to be a prisoner and comes to revenge us, what should we do at that time?]
I was trembling with the increasingly outrageous words, so I immediately found the video I had taken before, which showed that the whole house was covered with carpets, and sent it to the group.
I didn't expect the video to show a red exclamation mark directly.
I was kicked out of the group.
Even if I was angry, I couldn't reach the person on the other side of the internet, so I could only comfort myself by saying that out of sight, out of mind.
I didn't expect that the next morning, when I was about to go out to buy groceries, the door couldn't be opened.
While I was twisting the doorknob and pushing hard, there was a tearing sound, and a strong stench hit me.
It turned out that the door was sprayed with a thick layer of red paint by someone, and a lot of unknown solid and liquid mixture was poured on it.
I had no choice but to call the property management to send someone to clean it up, and while there was no one at the door, I quickly sent the two children to kindergarten.
It's only June, but the high temperature of nearly 40 degrees made me feel dizzy just buying groceries.
Just as I was about to go home to avoid the heat, the kindergarten teacher called. It turned out that the two children had just arrived and started fighting with the other children in the kindergarten.
The teacher hinted on the phone that maybe the two children should rest at home for a few days.
I didn't understand at first, until Bella ran towards me, tears streaming down her face.
"Mom, they all said that Matthew and I are naughty kids and they won't play with us anymore."
The teacher smiled awkwardly and handed me the phone to let me see.
So last night, a nosy neighbor posted the chat records of the homeowners' group online, immediately attracting a lot of criticism.
In less than two hours, photos of me and the two children's daily life were exposed.
"Yvonne, I know you're not like that, but in the end, it's Matthew and Bella who are hurt the most by public opinion. Let's go back and rest for a few days and wait for the storm to pass."
I nodded, thanked the teacher, and took the two children home.
As soon as I entered the house, the booming disco music came from the bedroom.
The two children covered their ears in pain and squatted down.
"Mom, my heart feels uncomfortable."
I asked them to go outside first, closed the door, and then entered the house to find where was the sound from.
Until then, in the center of the bedroom, the music coming from the floor made me tremble as well.
It's that couple again.
When I had a splitting headache, I suddenly thought of the underground garage downstairs.
At that time, there happened to be an independent garage in the northwest corner of this community that the developer originally planned to use for himself.
But due to a funding interruption, it was mortgaged to the construction team as part of the project payment.
When my husband, Walter Young, heard about it, he secretly bought it from the construction team at a high price and transformed it into his usual workspace and warehouse.
Thinking that this room couldn't accommodate anyone, I quickly grabbed some things and went out to tell the two children.
"Hey kids, Mom will take you to a fun place."
Chapter 4
Even though the sun had already set, the outdoor temperature was still rising.
Just by going downstairs, the three of us were already covered in sweat.
Matthew complained to me uncomfortably, pulling at his collar.
"Mom, it's hot."
I tucked a cool quilt under my armpit and used my free hand to touch him.
"It's okay, it'll be better once we get there. The garage is cool."
The reason Walter chose this garage in the first place was not only because it had two parking spaces and a small warehouse on the negative second floor, but also because it had an independent exit in the northwest corner of the community.
Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the goods, when the warehouse was converted into a cold storage, the workers also built a wall directly behind the rolling shutter door leading to the public garage.
From the public underground garage, it looked like a normal rolling shutter door, but in fact, only the independent exit outside could be used to enter and exit.
As I opened the garage door, a gust of cool wind rushed in.
The children happily ran in, touching the desk and chair of Walter, and then touching the folding single bed in the corner.
Matthew ran directly to the row of shelves against the wall, holding a package and trying to read the words on it.
I looked at the two energetic children and felt very happy. I quickly took out and arranged some items that I brought temporarily.
A few sets of clothes for changing, two summer quilts, a versatile frying pan, and an induction cooker.
As I organized everything, I suddenly realized something serious.
I originally thought that the cold storage on the negative second floor had boxes of rice, flour, oil, and frozen fruits and vegetables, as well as a lot of instant food.
But I completely overlooked the electricity.
In order to save money, the electricity for the entire cold storage relied on several solar panels on the balcony of the house.
But the amount of calculation at that time was only enough to support the normal operation of the cold storage and turn on one more light.
Thinking of this, I immediately ran to the power meter to check.
Unexpectedly, after several days of scorching sun, the power was actually much more than originally estimated.
Feeling relieved, I immediately set up the induction cooker and took a bucket of water from the shelf to cook three bowls of plain noodles for the two children and myself.
Although the onions were frozen products in the cold storage, they tasted incredibly delicious when combined with sesame oil.
Chapter 5
After finishing the meal, I coax them to sleep.
With nothing else to do, I picked up the account book on the table and prepared to help Walter with inventory.
Over the years, we have accumulated a lot of capital. Walter has become a small supermarket supplier by using the channels he has run as a salesperson.
He went out to purchase this month, and the only refrigerated truck at home was also taken out, leaving a large space for me to tidy up.
I started organizing from the ordinary shelves on the negative first floor.
Because it contracted the supply of mineral water for a nearby convenience store, the 4L large barrels of mineral water occupied two entire shelves, with dozens of barrels neatly arranged.
The shelves next to it were also filled with about twenty to thirty boxes of 500ml small bottles of mineral water.
There were another 10 boxes of bread, with two bags in each box, totaling 100kg; 5 boxes of oil, with 4 cans in each box, totaling 100L; over 20 bags of flour, totaling 40kg.
And 3 boxes of sugar and salt, with 60 bags in each box.
And there were also several boxes of various toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, and soap, with different quantities.
2 boxes each of tissues, cling film, garbage bags, and towels.
And dozens of boxes of non-perishable foods such as instant noodles, instant hot pot, ham sausages, and milk.
After finishing the inventory on the first floor, I stretched and yawned, only to find that it had only been 2 hours and the child was still not awake, so I walked to the corner and lifted a thick cover.
Well, the entrance to the basement cold storage was in the garage, accessed through a thick isolation door.
I climbed down the stairs, and the piercing cold made me regret why I didn't wear more cloth to come down.
The inside of the cold storage was only half the size, allowing one person to pass between the shelves.
Several layers inside are filled with various frozen vegetables, fruits, and seafood from top to bottom.
The next two layers were some frozen fast food that can be heated and eaten.
While taking inventory, I suddenly saw the fast food pizza that the children have been wanting to eat for a long time.
Thinking that they have been through a lot recently, I planned to heat up the pizza in the microwave to satisfy their cravings when I go back tomorrow.
Early the next morning, thinking about the custard bread in the cold storage, I prepared to go back for a visit before 6 o'clock.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I went out, the scorching sun forced me to turn back.
When I returned, I saw that my arm, which was the first to reach out, was sunburned in just a few seconds.
Not knowing what happened, I quickly opened my phone to check today's temperature.
The top of the screen popped up with a hot search reminder.
[Warning! Extreme high temperatures are currently occurring nationwide. Citizens are advised to stay at home and avoid going out as much as possible.]
Click in, the social media was already buzzing with complaints about this sudden abnormal heatwave.
Many people have directly shared their experiences of getting sunburned despite being fully covered.
I kept scrolling down and came across a post complaining about our neighborhood.
[There has been a sudden power outage in Sierra Vista Community. How are we supposed to survive in this scorching weather?]